IRAQ. Kirkuk. 4/10/03. Kurdish oil rich city in the North of Iraq. Considered the "Jerusalem of the Kurds". After the city was abandonned the day after the fall of Baghdad, by Iraqi troops, following more then 3 weeks of US bombing of its frontlines and military/governement installations, thousands of Peshmerga forces from the two parties PUK and KDP entered the city. They took over former government buildings and there was widespread looting, mostly of governement buildings. Several Iraqi soldiers were killed earlier, and Saddam Hussein statues were torn down and there was allout celebration.